Two weeks to the day that a heavily armed radicalized Muslim couple killed 14 people at a work holiday party in San Bernardino, California, President Barack Obama tried to reassure Americans nervous about terrorism. Flanked by top officials at the National Counterterrorism Center, Obama said there are no “specific and credible” threats to the homeland. New polls indicate more Americans are concerned about a terrorist attack than gun violence, although one survey shows seven in 10 believe mass shootings have become a normal part of American life. The right to bear arms is among the most hotly debated constitutional issues. Demands for stricter gun control laws grow louder with each inexplicable act of violence: Sandy Hook, Columbine and, now, San Bernardino. The gun lobby and its supporters are no less pained by these tragedies, but say no law can stop a determined individual from buying a weapon. It is a familiar debate – one that continued on the week that first of the victims of San Bernardino were laid to rest.
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Gun Control: Americans Search Yet Again for Antidote to Gun Violence
Do Citizens (not police officers) With Guns Ever Stop Mass Shootings?
…Always keep in mind that mass shootings in public places should not be the main focus in the gun debate, whether for gun control or gun decontrol: They on average account for much less than 1 percent of the U.S. homicide rate and are unusually hard to stop through gun control laws…
‘We Will Prevail’
President Barack Obama gave a rare address from the Oval Office Sunday night on last week’s mass shootings in San Bernardino, California – deemed an act of terror – that killed 14 people at a work holiday party. While acknowledging that the U.S. is confronting a terror threat at home, he tried to reassure the country by vowing that “we will overcome” such acts of terror. He called for stricter laws on assault-style weapons, and reiterated his decision not to engage U.S. troops in a ground war against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
End the Gun Epidemic in America
Certain kinds of weapons, like the slightly modified combat rifles used in California, and certain kinds of ammunition, must be outlawed for civilian ownership. It is possible to define those guns in a clear and effective way and, yes, it would require Americans who own those kinds of weapons to give them up…
Liberal Media Is Once Again Completely Wrong About Gun Violence
I will give the LA Times some credit–they didn’t give the horrifically inflated figure on gun deaths that pro-gun control groups often peddle to make a case that America is a shooting gallery…. It’s not. Violent crime is at record lows, firearm-related homicides are down, and this editorial board knows that California is one of the most […]
San Bernardino Shooting Just Opened Up a Can of Worms Far Bigger Than Gun Control
But the greater question for all the mass shootings is the motivation behind why the weapons were purchased in the first place. Both suspects were Muslim, which makes an easy case for blaming the shooting on religious or cultural extremism against the U.S.
Why Mass Death Is Our New Normal: The Real Root of America’s Gun Violence
The problem is U.S. culture, which venerates firearms as symbols of self-control and rugged individualism; which is so taken by the seductive power of guns that it’s willing to give absurd myths like “a good guy with a gun” a serious hearing…
Americans, Once Again, Grapple With How to Stop Gun Violence
Angst, anger and grief are on the minds of many Americans after last week’s mass shooting at a community college in Oregon. How did we get here – here being the near routine incidents of one person deliberately shooting completely innocent victims? Some observers are wading back into the debate over gun control, wielding studies and statistics to back their solution to this deadly epidemic.
America’s Dark Shadows: The Charleston Massacre
Many ages removed, America’s magical object is the gun. The gun defines us and protects us. It is also the chosen instrument of sacrifice, retribution and justice.
South Carolina Church Massacre: Hate Crime or Terrorism?
The killing of nine people at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston by a young white man has thrust gun control and racism front and center once again in America. Among the many pained questions being asked is whether or not the shooting should be defined as a hate crime or an act of terror.